


Shock to the System

by wildwordwomyn



Category: Flashpoint
Genre: Angst, Hurt, Love Triangle, M/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-12
Updated: 2011-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-21 07:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/222767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildwordwomyn/pseuds/wildwordwomyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ed gets a shock to the system and has an epiphany.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shock to the System

**Author's Note:**

> Big spoilers for "Fault Lines". My take on what happened after the episode ended.

The sky is a beautifully soft blue. The same blue as the paint on Clark's walls when he was a baby. This is Ed's first thought as he lays there on the asphalt. The sky looks inviting and if he could fly he would. Straight up to feel the white, cotton candy clouds. He knows he's going into shock and there's very little blood soaking into his clothes, which means the bullet didn't exit. Which means there is internal bleeding, and that's not good at all. He should be calling someone while he still can because who knows when another person will come along. It's a busy intersection but that's no guarantee in the middle of the morning.

 

It hits him then that Greg doesn't know. His last words to the man earlier were not so nice and now he's been shot, could very well die soon if he doesn't get help, and Greg thinks he hates him. He gets why the man brought in someone new to evaluate them. His partner hadn't betrayed him at all. He'd betrayed himself. Doubting himself, his own skills, his reason for doing the job. If he'd said something, asked for help, Ed would've been there. But he didn't. That's what really hurts if Ed is to be honest. Yet he would've been the same way. Telling himself, and anyone else, that nothing was wrong until everything was. And Sophie, poor Sophie. It's over. He gets that. Her asking him to give up the S.R.U. was a clue even he can't ignore. And not just the team, but Greg as well. Who they are on the job is who they are off it. Ed would miss the work too much if he saw Greg only on social occasions. He would miss the camaraderie of the team but more than that he would miss his partnership with his friend.

 

Ed blinks to fight back the tears, wrestling his cell phone out of his side pocket. He speed-dials Greg's cell. When the older man answers he says, “You should've come to me. I understand why you didn't but you should've. I could've helped.”

 

“Eddie? What's going on? Aren't you at the hospital? How're Sophie and the baby?”

 

“Greg, just listen. I don't have much time. Call the shrink off. We're okay as is. We may be dysfunctional, but we work and that's what's most important. We all work, including you. So tell the doctor to go back from whatever hole he crawled out of and get back to it.” Suddenly Ed's vision turns a little blurry around the edges. “And tell Sophie I'm sorry and that I love her and the kids.”

 

Greg picks up on the strangeness of his words, his voice, immediately. “Ed, where are you?” he demands in a slightly panicked tone.

 

Ed takes a shallow breath as the pain begins to radiate through him. “Intersection of 4th and Fairview. Seems the guy in front of me had a bad case of road rage.” An inhale hitches so Ed rushes to get more words out before he passes out. “Shot. Right under my vest. Lower right abdomen.” Greg goes silent. Ed imagines his expression. It's not a pretty one. “Bullet didn't exit, Greg. Get an ambulance here quick.”

 

The pain is so bad now his heart feels like it's about to burst out of his chest. When he tries to breathe in again the world blanks. He hears Greg calling his name but the sounds grows fainter and fainter. His eyes slam shut but he can still see the sky. All that blue and white and he's flying now. He's free. His last thought is of Greg's grin and his own sense of peace in the man's presence. He knows what that means, and if he lives he will make sure everyone else knows it too, but for now all he wants to do is sleep...


End file.
